


Heart On Fire

by waltzforthemoon



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Spring in Hieron Spoilers, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 12:30:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19107133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waltzforthemoon/pseuds/waltzforthemoon
Summary: Spring in Hieron 30 spoilersAn embellished look at what happens when Fero heals Ephrim after he gets hurt in the battle against Arrell + the unexpected tenderness that follows





	Heart On Fire

**Author's Note:**

> all I'm gonna say is I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort tropes and I am completely on my bullshit here because I got so happy when Fero offered to heal Ephrim in SiH 30 :')
> 
> I hope we get to see more canon tenderness between these two in Spring with however much we have left--in the meantime, here's a fic!

Everything had seemed to happen in a matter of seconds.

Arrell was dead. Throndir was on his hands and knees next to Arrell’s corpse—now sobbing loudly. Benjamin had just been shot down and was lying on the ground with Rosanna hovering over him, tears flooding from her eyes. Hadrian was down now, too but Fero hadn’t seen him get hurt.

And Ephrim—

Fero glanced over at Ephrim, who had just collapsed facedown onto the floor—everything happened so fast that not even a minute had probably passed after Arrell had forced Ephrim to stab himself in the chest. A pool of blood quickly formed underneath Ephrim’s body and Fero shook his head to snap out of his shock and sprang into action.

“Ephrim!”

Fero ran past Throndir and Arrell and knelt down to carefully turn Ephrim over onto his back. Fero looked down at him and noted that his face was a ghostly pale color dotted with small flecks of his own blood, and his entire torso was drenched in dark crimson. Ephrim was close to death.

“I can heal you!” Fero told him, even though he was sure that Ephrim was knocked out cold and probably couldn’t even hear him.

Fero gently placed a hand over Ephrim’s chest and concentrated on channeling what magic he could to heal the wound, eyes shut tight and jaw clenched hard. He hoped this would work.

Ephrim groaned and Fero opened his eyes to see Ephrim’s eyes blink open as he took in a couple deep breaths.

“Fero…” Ephrim quietly called out as he glanced up to meet Fero’s eyes.

Fero pulled down Ephrim’s collar to see if his magic had worked, but there was still an open, bleeding wound—though at least now it looked more like a shallow knife wound than a wound from a mystical sword having been run through Ephrim’s chest.

“I’m sorry—I couldn’t heal you all the way,” Fero said as he glanced down.

“It’s okay… Thank you,” Ephrim breathed out with a weak smile.

Fero was too worried to smile back. What if his magic wasn’t enough? What if Ephrim—

“Ben!” Fero turned to hear Hadrian exclaim and saw him hugging his son and wife. They were okay!

Throndir suddenly stood up.

“Hey, what happened? What was that whole last five minutes—or however long?” Fero asked him. It had all happened so fast but he knew that it was Throndir who had shot Benjamin.

Throndir didn’t look over at Fero, keeping his head down. “Solomon told me he’d be okay. It’s the _only_ way I would’ve done it.”

“Well, we’ll see how ‘okay’ it all ends up being,“ Hadrian told Throndir with a hard gaze.

Fero creased his brow and continued to question Throndir. “Okay, and then the, um, second part?”

“I mean… Arrell killed me once and I came back different,” Throndir replied. He swallowed and glanced over at Fero to meet his gaze. His face was still wet with tears and he had a pained expression in his eyes. “I can… I can give you as many answers as you want later.”

“Okay,” was all Fero replied. He wouldn’t press further.

And before anyone could get in another word, Throndir fled the library. Fero finally began to put the pieces together about what just happened with Arrell, Throndir, and Benjamin—how strange Throndir had acted at times on this journey—and how it was all connected.

“Ben’s alive?” Ephrim quietly asked, bringing Fero’s attention back to him.

“Yeah, he is,” Fero replied.

“Good…” Ephrim let out a deep exhale and his eyes closed again.

“Ephrim?” Fero called out. He reached a hand out to Ephrim’s face and lightly clapped his cheek. “Hey—don’t die on me now! Aren’t you supposed to go back and continue being a stupid Lord at the University?”

Ephrim didn’t stir at all and Fero felt his heart hammer against his chest. He moved a hand to Ephrim’s throat to search for a pulse and closed his eyes. Then he sighed in relief as he felt a steady beat underneath his fingers.

“Is Ephrim okay?” It was Benjamin who had asked, and Fero quickly turned to him, taking his fingers off of Ephrim’s throat.

“He’s still alive. I tried to heal him, but… I didn’t do much,” Fero sighed.

Benjamin lowered his eyes in a sad expression. “I wasn’t fast enough to help him…”

“Shh, Ben.” Hadrian was next to him now, looking down at Ephrim.

Rosanna rubbed a comforting hand on her son’s back. “Ephrim is alright, then?”

“Yeah. But we should get him healed properly. The wound is still bleeding,” Fero replied.

Hadrian nodded. “Shouldn’t we take care of Arrell’s body, too?”

At that moment, Highwater quickly made her way over to Ephrim’s side. She glanced down at Ephrim with concern, then resolutely answered, “Marigold and I will take care of the body. You get Lord Ephrim treated right away.”

Fero finally got up from his knees and stood up. “Hadrian—can you carry Ephrim?”

Hadrian pursed his lips. “Can’t you turn into a bear or something? Might be easier to carry him that way.”

“Oh. Right…” Fero giggled, though it sounded half-hearted.

“You okay, Fero?” Hadrian asked.

“Yeah.” Fero released a deep breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding in. “We did it. We killed Arrell.”

 

+

  
It had been a long time since Fero had been in such a bloody fight—or at least, since he had seen someone on his side get so bloodied in a battle.

The blood had seeped through Ephrim’s clothes and stained his entire torso, which Fero could see after Hadrian removed Ephrim’s armor and shirt so that he could properly treat the wound.

Fero couldn’t do much to help with the healing magic, so he helped to clean the blood from Ephrim’s face, arms and hands with hot water and towels while Hadrian went to work.

Ephrim was unconscious the whole time that Hadrian took to heal him, so Fero decided to stay in the room with him once they were done—which was Ephrim’s same room at the governor’s house, since there wasn’t an infirmary of any sort. Fero wanted to keep watch for when he did wake up—or to ascertain whether the wound might be more than physical.

“We can probably get Highwater and Marigold to keep watch over him,” Hadrian had told Fero.

“No, that’s okay,” Fero replied. “I want to stay here. Besides, I don’t need to eat. You should go eat dinner and be with your family.”

Hadrian grinned. “Okay.”

“Thank you, Hadrian,” Fero replied.

Hadrian quirked an eyebrow in confusion. “What are you thanking me for? I didn’t heal you.”

“You did what I couldn’t do, though,” Fero replied, again feeling frustrated with himself that he was only able to barely keep Ephrim from dying with his magic. Frustrated that he couldn’t do more.

“Well… thanks for helping kick Arrell’s ass into dust,” Hadrian offered.

“You should thank Throndir, too. He’s the one who killed him in the end,” Fero acknowledged.

Hadrian went silent, all the cordiality gone from his face.

Fero uncomfortably cleared his throat. “Or… not?”

Hadrian sighed. “Perhaps one day… not likely any time soon.”

Fero tilted his head and nodded. “Yeah, I get it…”

“Well, see you later.” Hadrian waved and left the room.

Fero turned back around to glance at Ephrim, who still had yet to wake up. He looked more peaceful now, like he was just sleeping. And for all that he had been through, he still looked real good in the face now that his color was back. It was kind of annoying how handsome he was, although Fero would never admit it out loud.

  
+

  
It was only about an hour longer before Ephrim suddenly took in a deep breath and groaned upon waking up. His breath hitched when he tried to sit up in his bed.

“Hey, you’re awake!” Fero said with a grin—surprising himself that he was so happy upon seeing Ephrim wake up.

“Fero? What are you doing here?” Ephrim asked in a low, tired voice.

“You passed out again. So Hadrian and I took you back here and healed you some more. At least until your wounds became manageable.”

Ephrim moved a hand to feel at his bandaged chest and looked down. Then he turned back to Fero. “And… you’re still here?”

“Um, if you don’t want me here, I can leave!” Fero said, getting up from his chair, where he was seated right next to Ephrim.

He was well aware that he wasn’t Ephrim’s favorite person—and Ephrim wasn’t Fero’s favorite person, either—except… Fero was so relieved to see him alive and awake and… what did that mean?

Ephrim reached a hand out in protest. “No! I didn’t say that.”

Fero sat back down.

“I’m just… surprised, is all,” Ephrim told Fero with a tense of his brow. Then it cleared as he smiled. “Thanks for healing me.”

Fero shrugged and then crossed his arms. “I didn’t do much.”

“You kept me from bleeding out to death. That’s a lot, Fero.” Ephrim raised his eyebrows as he said this last bit with an earnest tone.

Fero scrunched his mouth in an uncomfortable pout. He wasn’t used to hearing such sincere gratitude. “Well… it was the least I could do. Hadrian did a lot more than me after we took you back here.”

“So Hadrian’s okay. And… Benjamin?”

“They’re perfectly fine,” Fero told Ephrim. “Of course, Hadrian’s pissed at Throndir, but I mean—can’t blame him.”

“And Throndir?” Ephrim asked.

“Haven’t seen him since the end of the battle. But I’m guessing he’s okay.”

Ephrim was quiet and had a frown on his face. “He’s not okay…”

Fero scratched at his chin. “He seemed upset about it after the fact. But he did still kind of save us all.”

“Yeah. At least Throndir’s fuckup saved us—mine almost killed us.” Ephrim glanced down and heaved a big sigh. “I was careless and let myself get controlled by Arrell. If Throndir hadn’t acted so quickly…we could have lost everything.”

“It’s not your fault!” Fero grumbled. “It’s Arrell’s fault for everything that happened in that library—and it all worked out in the end—everyone’s still alive! No point in dwelling over any of the mistakes.”

Ephrim glanced up to meet Fero’s gaze. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Then he smiled. “Hey, you were real great back there in the battle. I mean… a bear scorpion?”

Fero grinned. “Yeah, I was so cool, huh?”

Ephrim laughed, and then he grimaced as he put a hand onto his chest. He breathed out hard for a few seconds, but then it subsided.

Fero swallowed as he stared in concern. “It still hurts?”

“Yeah,” Ephrim replied quietly. Then he grinned. “It’s fine, though. More like a bruise now.”

Fero got up from his chair and stood close to Ephrim. “…Maybe I can try again? Or if we had good weed here, that could work too?

A laugh burst from Ephrim again, and Fero smiled—realizing that seeing Ephrim smile made him happy. Of course, Ephrim hissed in pain right after, but he was still smiling.

“If you want to,” Ephrim replied. “I think I’ll be okay, though. I just need to rest. Are you okay?”

“I’m all good—didn’t get that hurt in the battle,” Fero told him with a grin. “I don’t mind healing you a bit more.”

Ephrim was quiet for a couple seconds as he seemed to consider it. “Um… okay.”

Fero placed two hands on Ephrim’s chest and closed his eyes again. He concentrated and felt the magic flow through his palms. After a couple seconds, he opened his eyes and asked, “Feel any different?”

“The wound is still there, but… it felt nice. Like all the tension in my body went away and I’m not tired anymore.” Ephrim smiled and the he patted one of Fero’s hands with his own. “Thank you, Fero.”

Fero felt his cheeks warm and he awkwardly pulled away after Ephrim didn’t move his hand.

“Yeah, sure! Um. Anyway… uh, you hungry? The others started dinner a while ago,” Fero said to deflect from the inexplicable awkwardness he was feeling.

“Yeah, I _am_ kind of hungry.” Ephrim felt at his stomach.

“Well, I can go and get you food,” Fero offered. “I think it’s soup for dinner tonight.”

“Wow, thanks Fero.” Ephrim grinned and followed up, “Hey, you should make a plant that like… fills people up all day if they eat it. Maybe we can do that back at the University, get the garden thriving again. That is, of course, if you’d want to! You’re not obligated to do anything for the University.”

“That’s a great idea! But… it’s kind of hit or miss when I come up with a new plant or animal. Wouldn’t want to make a mistake like… a plant that eats people,” Fero said with a laugh.

Ephrim laughed, “Yeah, that would be a disaster.”

“I can go get you food right now, though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Not a problem at all,” Fero told Ephrim with a grin.

Ephrim stared at Fero with a serious expression, and a line formed between his brows. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Fero felt his cheeks warm again, so he scowled. “Because I feel like it!”

Ephrim laughed, and then he winced in pain. He tilted his head and softly smiled at Fero. “Sorry. I just… I really appreciate it.”

Fero swallowed, and then cleared his throat. “I’m just… glad you’re alive.”

Ephrim reached forward and placed a hand on Fero’s arm and gave him a warm, lingering gaze. “Thank you, Fero. I really mean it.”

Fero blamed it on the fact that Ephrim had control over fire magic.

That’s the only logical reason that Fero felt warm when Ephrim smiled at him. That's the only reason that looking at Ephrim’s flushed cheeks and neck made his own cheeks blush with heat. The only reason Fero’s own heart felt like it was burning and swelling when he gazed into those dark, warm eyes that burned into him. 

It was just magic, surely.


End file.
